A POT-puffing pensioner from Wormley avoided being sent to jail for growing a large number of cannabis plants in his garden shed after a judge said the case should never have come to court.

George Armstrong, 75, pleaded guilty to both the production of 48 female flowering plants of cannabis and possessing 605 grams of cannabis – an amount equivalent to around 21 ounces of the class B drug – at South West Surrey Magistrates’ Court last month.

During that hearing, Carol Magras, chairman of the court, agreed the matter was out of the court’s jurisdiction as the offences were so serious, and committed the matter to Guildford Crown Court for sentence in June.

However, during the sentencing on June 8, Recorder Peter Susman QC said that although a conditional discharge was rare, in Armstrong’s case it was “quite different”.

The defendant, who lives in a cottage on Culmer Lane, was then handed a conditional discharge on both counts.

Recorder Susman said he would not be asking him to pay any costs, though the usual order would have been £340, and that the case should never have got to the Crown Court.

“I think the magistrates could have thought laterally a little bit,” he said. “Without criticising the prosecution in any way at all, I am not going to make an order for costs – as far as the cannabis that was seized goes, it should be destroyed.”

Commenting on the sentencing, Mr Armstrong said he was happy with the outcome, adding: “The judge is a man of some wisdom.”

The pensioner faced a prison sentence of up to two-and-a-half years after police were tipped off that he was growing the cannabis plants in his garden shed.

Zeltia Carrera, prosecuting, told magistrates on May 11: “Police officers received intelligence relating to cannabis being grown on a large scale in a shed at a property owned by Mr Armstrong.

“The shed was found to be fitted with lighting and watering apparatus – they searched the property and found the loose leaf herbal cannabis in bags and boxes in his kitchen area.

“He commented to officers ‘You are here about the plants of cannabis. I smoke it all day’.

“During interview, he admitted the production of cannabis and stated that he had been smoking it since the 1960s.”

That court also heard that Armstrong had told officers cannabis was too expensive and he could no longer afford what it cost him to fund his own habit, so he had he started to grow his own crop.

Miss Carrera then argued that due to the ‘large-scale’ production of the cannabis, the case should be sent to crown court so a judge with greater sentencing powers could pass sentence on the matter.

“The defendant’s role demonstrates a significant role and awareness and understanding – the sentence range for the offence is two years, six months,” the court was told.